It's GETTING HOT in here!

Lately, I have been too busy to notice anything involving menopause. In between taking care of my mom and son I have come to just ignore the hot flashes and the all the rest of the stuff that comes along with this journey for the most part. Until last night. I was sleeping or trying to sleep and the night flashes came back, I call them that because they are not really night sweats just like hot flashes but come at night. I moved the covers to one side and then turned the pillow to the cool side hoping that would do the trick. This was the longest hot flash in history of my hot flashes. I don't know how long it lasted but it lasted a long time in my book. I tossed and turned and turned and tossed wishing that it was over. I was wishing that this part of my life was over and I would not have another flash of anything until I was 99 years old. Or close to it. 

Nonetheless, I was tossing and turning and then it stopped as abruptly as it has arrived. I went to get something cold to drink and then returned back to bed thinking that it would be OK for the rest of the night. Of course, I was wrong and about an hour later I was back to being hot and back to kicking covers off of me and finding cool sides of the pillow.  I tried to think happy thoughts. I was thinking ok, this won't last forever, it might seem forever but it is not and then I mentally made a to do list for today. Of course, not on the list was hot flashes, night flashes or being cranky. I am trying. 

Can You Hear ME NOW???

My hotflashes have gotten better much to my surprise and for a while no night sweats either. Knock on wood. I am not sure of the reason but I am just glad that they both have gotten better. Knock on wood again. But, one thing new now is I am more sensative to noise and that is not a good thing when you have an active ten year old who loves to make more noise then the law allows sometimes. So, at certain times during the day I notice I get headaches. So, I have a bottle of tylenol in reach at all times. My mom lives with us too so sometimes those two can talk really loudly to each other and you would probably think that they both were hard of hearing if you didn't know any  better. So, while my ears are bleeding from their loud conversations about life before he was born and sometimes before I was even born and the television up loud because when you are 77 you don't hear as well as you did when you were 47 I barely make it through the day without taking some tylenol  to get rid of my headache. I attribuite this to menapause although I am not sure that it has anything to do with it. All I know is that before I started going through this life altering experience I was fine with the noise levels that I have had to endure in the house. I basically had the ability to just tune it out. Therefore, I am blaming menapause. 

So, around the evening time, the time right before dinner and right before bedtime, the noise level is off the hook to my ears and that is the time I need some kind of headache relief the most. I really can't complain too much because if this is the least of my symptoms for the day or the night then I totally feel blessed about that. It is just my poor head that has the trouble.  I can't wait to see what is next on my journey. But, for now, I need an aspirin or Tylenol or something. lol

Happy Ears

Last year I think I have purchased about 20 million headsets for my son. OK

, maybe not  that many but it sure feels like it sometimes. He has had just about every kind that we can afford that Amazon had to offer. From the red ones, blue ones, black ones, fancy ones, plain ones, etc...you name it he probably has had it. So, when the last pair mysteriously broke as he put it I told him he would have to save up for another pair. I thought this would teach him to be more responsible for things and not be so careless with them. I don't know how many times I have found them lying on the kitchen floor or dangling from the computer after he was done. Not that he didn't have some help with them mysteriously breaking my nephew who is on the computer more then the law allows at night had a hand in that too. He is much older then my son but just as careless with things. 

Well, I gave my son this ultimatum a few weeks ago and he has managed to save some of his Christmas money that he got from his paternal grandmother minus a few dollars he was determined to spend at the dollar tree on a couple items he had to have. So, after weeks of "suffering" hearing his cartoons that he watches online and a couple of games he plays on my Facebook page and of course all the stuff my nephew manages to watch and laugh loudly at, my ears couldn't take anymore.  I must be getting old cause lately they can't take a lot of noise. lol I asked my son how much of his Christmas he had left and he showed me. I told him it was time to buy more headphones. I told him I would pay the difference. 

This place is very small and since the computer has to live in the kitchen for now, the biggest room in the house and not too far from the living room, or what is called the living room, since we do most of our living in the kitchen it seems most days, the noise level can get pretty bad with the computer and the television  just a few feet from each other. My mom likes the TV louder then I like because she is older and can't hear as well so with that TV loud and the computer on blast it was more then my ears could take. I really do miss sometimes when we used to live in a bigger place where the TV was  actually far from the computer and noise and my ears didn't bleed every time someone turned one or the other on full volume. 

Last night I was trying to listen to a show and my son was in the background listening and watching his show and I was so thinking about when the headphones were coming that I ordered. I guess it would have been faster just to go someplace like Best Buy or Radio Shack to get some but since we don't have a car and waiting on someone to take you where you want to go or waiting on a bus is something that I really didn't feel like doing in this instance I decided to order online and wait the 3-7 days that they said it would take to arrive at my doorstep. That way I can just open the door, open the box and plug them in and be happy as a clam on the beach. Thankfully this morning I got a text that said they have been shipped and are on the way to my front door. I almost did the happy dance when I read that. Pretty soon there will be less noise in the house for my old ears to listen too. Yippee. 

I was happy until I came into the kitchen to get my last chocolate cupcake I have been saving and dreaming about eating since last night. I could just taste the chocolatey goodness melting in my mouth and me enjoying every single bite of it. My one time a week where I have little treats except that one time when I got candy at the dollar store the other day but my son ate most of that little bag so that doesn't count in my world too much. So, I came looking for my cupcake stashed in the cuts of the kitchen where I thought nobody looked. I put it in the fridge behind the veggies. Nobody looks there. Or so I thought. It was gone. A thief in the night stole my chocolate goodness.  Well, I know who the certain thief was because the evidence was all over their face in the form of chocolate. But, that is okay. I guess you just can't have everything and besides I know where to get more and know how to bake more if I want to. 

I am just happy my noise level will go from a loud roar to a softer roar by this time next week. My ears are looking forward to it. 

Adventure in Shopping

Going to the dollar tree store is always an adventure. You just never know who you are going to meet and what you are going to really get when you go shopping for one item and come out with ten. That happens to me quite a bit. I go in for stickers and come out with stickers, paper plates, party cups, (just in case you know I might have a party this week real or pretend depending if my little cousin come over who I have pretend tea parties with), blank cards for any occasion, candy and of course toys for my son. By the time I get to the check out counter my little hand basket is full of everything. 

So, yesterday I decided to go in and get some paper plates since everyone it seems needs a break from washing dishes. Meaning they sit in the sink until I wash them. The only pair of hands in the house that can seem to wash dishes lately. So, my dish pan hands need a break and my son suggested paper plates, cups, and forks. I decided that he was indeed right we needed some and plus it was an excuse to get to his favorite store, as if he needed one. My sister, son and I got out of the car and headed in. My sister works there so of course everyone knew her and by this time they knew us too. Her manager greeted her with a sarcastic, " Long time no see stranger." and we all laughed.  Five seconds after walking in I had put a bag of candy in the hand basket. I do have a sweet tooth so that was no surprise to anybody. How fast I spotted it and put it in the basket might have been a surprise though. Walking around down the party aisle where the paper plates I like were located this man wearing pajamas and a slippers pushing a cart was coming in the opposite direction so I moved over to let him pass. Now, since everyone has a blue tooth these days and it looks like they are talking to themselves it is hard to tell or hard for me to tell if they are talking to themselves  or talking to you. So, when the guy in pajamas said hello I didn't know if he was on the phone, talking to himself or talking to me. So, I just nodded and smiled. Well, apparently he wasn't talking to me because his next sentence was, "Are you still on the phone?" I felt embarrassed but not so much since I only nodded and smiled and wasn't foolish enough to say anything like I had done many times before.  So, I proceeded to fill up my little hand basket with stuff that I probably wouldn't use for a while when I got home. I told my son it was time to go because the hand basket was getting pretty heavy and pretty full and with a groan he agreed on the condition that we come back soon. Well, I just smiled and nodded again. 

The line at the check out counter was longer then I had seen since Christmas time. Of course there was only one person open so I gritted my teeth, looked around for any good stuff at the register that I might look at while waiting for the 4 people in front of me to check out.  I was almost to the front when the woman two people in front of me started screaming. Just all of a sudden she started yelling to the top of her lungs in a primal scream or yell. No words just yelling. She caught everyone off guard and the manager came running out from the back of the store and everyone just froze in their tracks. Nobody said anything or did anything. Nobody knew what to do.  After a couple of minutes of everyone just standing and staring the woman ran out of the store. She took off like she was in a 5k race. After she left the cashier tried to crack a joke and it was business as usual. 

My sister told me that they get a lot of folks like that there in the store and they just usually ignore them. It makes me a little sad. I don't know anything about the woman  but she looked sad to me.  There was just something in her eyes that looked a little sad. She brought  a few food items before she yelled and ran out. My sister said she sees her sometimes and sometimes she will stand outside asking for change. My sister usually gives her a couple of dollars and she gets what she wants and leaves. 

On the way out a dog was coming in. I guess the dog was looking for its owner who probably was like me thinking that they would be in and out. Just grab a few things and go. And probably filled up a hand basket too. The dog probably got tired of waiting and said he was going to find his person and he did.  His person came running to the door as soon as he noticed his dog and apologized to everyone. I told him no apology needed for me. It is always a fun place to shop. 

Highlights

Yesterday my friend and I were talking about the new year that is a few hours away now. She asked me what were my highlights from this year. I told her I would really have to think about that one. Hers was treatment for a medical condition

which made her life a lot easier and more healthier. I told her I knew that hers was going to be that. She had been suffering with this medical problem for years and finally she found a way to get it taken care of. I am very happy that she did. 

So, then I started to think about myself. Well, this year I didn't do anything so amazing like have a baby, get married, move to another state or country, climb a mountain, ski across country, break a world record or anything like that. I was thinking I had more low lights then highlights. After all, I have been through a lot with my mom with her getting sick and all the stuff that goes along with that. But, that highlight would be she is still here with me. She is slowly getting better the best she can. She won't be fully her old self again not with her onset of dementia but she is still here and I get to talk to her everyday, share with her things about how and what I am feeling, cook for her and take care of her when she needs me. I hope to have her here for a lot more years. Of course the low lights would be the medical bills but, that will all work itself out even if it takes the next 20 years to pay them. lol I am just feeling blessed that she is still with us.

Then I thought about my son. He didn't do anything so spectacular this year. He was just being a kid. He went from 9 years old to 10 years old and now has a 13 year old attitude. But, we still laugh together and he is not sick and I am so thankful for that. I have read about a lot of kids that were not so fortunate and are not with us today. I am glad mine is and thriving. A highlight for him this year was an unexpected one. Last week he got a Christmas card in the mail. That part was not so unexpected but the person who sent it was. It came from his paternal grandmother. She hasn't sent him a card since he has been born. She barely acknowledges his existence. He has got all of two gifts from her in ten years. One was a big wheel when he was 2 that his father never could figure out how to put together. The other was a musical toy that she got from the thrift store when he was first born. So, to get this card was a surprise and an ever bigger surprise was the fact she put $20 in it and wrote a personal note. I had to call and find out if she was okay and of course my son called to thank her too. 

Next I thought about all the things that I do have that lots of people don't and as long as I have the basics I am pretty good. I have food, a roof and clothes. And I thought about a time not so long ago, about 7 years ago when I didn't. I feel blessed just to wake up everyday in a bed, my own bed. And I feel blessed to have a kitchen. I missed having a kitchen. It sounds strange to miss a kitchen but I did and even missed cooking. 

And I thought about my health. I am lucky to be in good health. Not the best but I am improving that over time. But, at least I am not in a hospital fighting for my life. I feel blessed for that too.

So, I told my friend that my highlight of the year was surviving the year. All the ups and downs and in betweens. I am still here to see another year. 

Happy New Year!

Fence Hopping

I have 3 nephews and noticed that boys do the darnest  things when they are little and my son is no exception. I remember that all of my now grown nephews "escaped" from the house when they were little and they all ended up around the corner at the mini market eating ice cream. I remember all the things that their friends told them to do and they did it. Most of those things got them into trouble but nonetheless they did them anyway. I remember my oldest nephews friend grounded from Halloween one year and actually made a "rope" out of sheets and blankets, similar to what you see on an old black and white movie, and climbed out of his bedroom window to go trick or treating when he was 8 years old. Of course, he got caught and got in trouble and couldn't eat any of his Halloween candy that year and was banned from trick or treating for the next year. That next Halloween his parents watched him more closely and there was no sneaking out. Just going to the door to give out candy in his monster costume. 

So, it came as no surprise when yesterday my son did something not so smart. My next door neighbor's house looks like a compound. I kid you not. You can't see his house from the street. It is hidden behind a tall fence and you would have to be a giant to see anything but the few trees that hang over the fence and a couple of flowering plants that hang on the other side. Other then that you can't see anything. From my porch I can see part of his side yard and a sliding glass door and one apple tree. That is it and only because my porch is a little higher then his house. But, just passing by it you might miss it. It reminds me of a house that a celebrity would live in if they lived in this neighborhood. House far from the street  secluded in the back where nobody can see you come and go if you didn't want them too.  I guess he is sort of like a celebrity though since he was on Oprah in the 90's. He wrote some book on diversity or some books on diversity and he gives courses to other people on that subject. One year he had a seminar at this house and passed out flyers that asked the neighbors to be quiet because they were filming it.  So, I guess he is well off, upper middle class and can afford to have a house hidden away from the prying eyes. 

Now, the trouble with that is the neighbor kids, including my son, who like to play ball. Any kind of ball, especially their version of football which involves kicking the ball as well as throwing it. So, you can imagine that the ball has traveled over his fence many times in spite of me telling them to be careful and play not so close to his fence. At first he was nice about getting the balls for them and throwing them over the fence when he was home. I cautioned them, my son and his friends again, and even told them I would take my son's ball away if they couldn't seem to keep the ball on their side of the world. They did good for a while. But, with kids, nothing good lasts for too long especially when you are playing a ball game. 

Yesterday, I heard one of them say, "Oh no." I knew that met only something bad. I went out to see and sure enough not one but two balls had been kicked "accidentally" over the fence and the guy was not home. They agreed to wait until he came home to ask if he could get the balls or if they could get them. That agreement lasted all of ten seconds. I then heard my son's voice calling me. I went to investigate. He was over in the other yard and said he was stuck. I saw him standing up so I said what did he mean stuck. He said he can't get back over the fence. I held back the urge to lecture him on the spot. I said I would save that until we found a way to get him back on the side of fence he was supposed to be on.  It seemed that the way he got over, climbing on top of the garbage can on the other side of the fence was not a good way to get back over because of course the garbage can he used was on the wrong side of the fence. But, he said that his friend who went over in the past said that there was something on that other side that he could climb on to get back.  Of course there wasn't. I told my son to go to the gate in the front of the compound and try to open it. He tried. I tried and neither of us could. I rang the door bell positioned outside of the gate in the hopes that someone might be visiting the man and they might be inside and open the door and the gate. No such luck. 

Then I got the idea of crates. Yes, we had some old crates that my nephew, whom I call, "Fred Sanford" from Sanford and Son the TV show, because he is a junk collector and always has been. If it is at the curb with a free sign he will take it. I went and got the 3 crates and hurled them over the side of the fence where he was stuck and told him to stack them and climb up on them that should give him enough height to hurl his butt back over to the other side. That worked. 

So, when the neighbor got home my son asked him for the crates back. He gave him a puzzled look and my son told him the story. He was nice about it and he asked my son and his friends not to throw or kick any more balls in his yard. I guess he got tired of retrieving them and the crates and being stuck were probably the straw. I figured that much. I gave them all a long talking to about the balls and playing too close to his yard and then told my son to come inside with his balls for the rest of the day because he knew better.  He was not a happy camper and proceeded to wine and beg to go back out and give me and the neighbor an apology but that didn't help his case any and he was grounded for the rest of the day. 

I know that people say that boys will be boys and I guess they are right. But, when I look back when I was his age I hate to admit it but I did almost the same thing. Climbing a fence to get a ball but I didn't get stuck. I guess what they say about apples and trees applies too. 

Tricks and Treats and Births!

I have always enjoyed Halloween although I never really considered it a "real" holiday but when I was little I loved getting dressed up and going out with my sister and cousins getting free candy. Back then there were no cell phones so if we were a tad late coming home we would try to sneak in and pretend that we didn't know what time it was. It didn't work but we tried. Back then my sister and I never brought costumes we always just used what we had in the house and dressed up in whatever and made our own costumes. One year, my aunt and uncle had just come back from Hawaii a couple weeks before Halloween and they brought us back some souvenirs. I got a fake grass shirt, a lay, and a fake flower for my hair so that year I was a hula dancer. I put the skirt on over my pants and all the other stuff on and I was the talk of the neighborhood. I can't remember what my sister was but probably something similar. One year I was a hobo, dressed in old clothes that were too big a little and mis matched. Another year I was a homemaker with curlers in my hair, a robe and tennis shoes. And one year I was just dressed up in my mom's old clothes and called myself a professional woman. Everyone used to say that my costumes were so creative. My father took us out and my mom stayed home. 

So, every year since my son was about 2 we have been going out trick or treating. This year, as in every year since we have moved to this neighborhood almost, we have gone to our old neighborhoods to trick or treat. Because around here there are mostly apartments and businesses and nobody really gives out anything. And we like to go and see how things have changed back in our two old neighborhoods. We only have two that we have lived in since he was born plus this one. So, my son bugs me as soon as he wakes up in the morning about what time we are going and what he is going to bring to put his candy in and he was more anxious then I was at his age. The time finally came, almost. My sister wanted to come and so after work she came over and we went to take her to cash her check and on the road we were trying to figure out where to go. We passed by our first old neighborhood in Albany, CA. Drove down the street we used to live on and they fixed up our old house we used to live in with lights and halloween decorations and it looked really nice. There were a large group of kids already in line trying to get to the door to get some free candy. We decided to do a little more driving. We saw a few more kids out, mostly little kids under 5 and so we made the decision to go to our last old neighborhood north of where we live now.

The street we used to live on at the time we used to live there was filled with kids mostly around the same age as my son was back then. One neighbor used to laugh and say that the neighborhood was filled with 2 year olds. There were a few senior citizens who had been there for years and owned their homes and knew us because at that time we lived in my grandmother's old house and everyone knew her and they always saw us coming and going over the years. So, we were known as Elsie's grand kids and great grand kids. 

Well, we couldn't go trick or treating on that block because it was blocked off and no cars were permitted to go down that street nor were any lights on in any of the houses.  I guess that street was boycotting Halloween. The scrooge of Halloween lived on that street, all of the new people who moved there probably.  I don't know who lives on that block now. The last time we trick or treated that block was two or three years ago but times have sure changed down there. There was only one house that was decorated and that house sat on the corner, not really connected to that street.  I was speechless.  But, I was thinking that was okay we had other houses and places to go to around there. 

We migrated near the little tot park and parked. Now, there they celebrated Halloween like it should be celebrated. Almost every house was decorated with pumpkins and lights and ghosts and it was like a Halloween wonderland. My son was happy and so was I. We got out of the car and proceeded to trick or treat every house we saw decorated and that was a lot of houses. In the first fifteen minutes his small happy meal sized Halloween bucket was almost full. Not only did they give candy away but they gave you more then one. Halloween bliss came over everyone. I was getting ready for my personal sugar high once we got home. I almost got tempted to eat a few bite size snickers bars before we got home but I restrained myself and my son and we carried on.  What we did notice was a lot more families were together trick or treating. I saw a lot of grandmothers and grandfathers going along with the parents of the kids enjoying Halloween just as much as they were. They giggled along with the kids at the sight of all the decorated porches and jumped when they got to houses that played scary Halloween music. They chatted with me about their grand kids and about their memories of Halloween. The parents were busy taking pictures of kids who for the most part were all under 7 and making sure the said thank you after they got their treats. It was nice. Some parents dressed up with their kids. I was not one of those. Even though I enjoy Halloween my days of dressing up I think are gone with the wind.  But, the parents who did dress up were cute. 

We stopped at one house and this older woman opened the door who kind of reminded me of  my own grandmother. She asked my son who he was, which was Naurto, and she asked all about his costume and asked him could he hold on a minute because her 90 year old mother wanted to see his costume. He proudly stood on the porch and waited for her to see him and told her all about his costume and the cartoon which gave him the costume idea.  They talked to him for a little bit and gave him more candy and told him to have a nice night. I think that was the best part about trick or treating, those two ladies who were interested in the stories my son had to tell about his costume. 

On the way home the night just got better. Not because of the boat load of candy that I was secretly plotting on "stealing" some from my son and putting myself on a mini sugar high, which was pretty darn good too, but my sister got a text from her step daughter who said that she had had her baby girl.  So, we had two reasons to celebrate Halloween this year. And next year we will have a new person to take trick or treating with us. It can't get better than that.